Ministry of Finance
HEALTH AN INTEGRAL COMPONENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE, LEITMOTIF FOR THE GOVERNMENT
COMPREHENSIVE AND ‘LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND’ APPROACH GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF HEALTHCARE
ENSURING THE PROVISION OF QUALITY HEALTH FACILITIES TO CITIZENS -AN IMPORTANT PRIORITY FOR THE GOVERNMENT
INFANT MORTALITY RATE , UNDER FIVE MORTALITY RATE  AND NEONATAL MORTALITY RATE  FOLLOW A STEADY DOWNWARD TREND
Health is an integral component of social welfare, leitmotif for the Government. Comprehensive and ‘leave no one behind’ approach form the guiding principles of healthcare, as per the Economic Survey 2022-23 tabled today in Parliament by Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs.
Major initiatives from 2014 to 2022 for better overall health
The pre-budget Survey notes that ensuring the provision of quality health facilities to citizens is an important priority for the Government. Towards this objective, multidimensional initiatives have been launched and carried forward for better overall health of the citizens, as encapsulated below. Under the National Health Mission, the Government has made concerted efforts to engage with all relevant sectors and stakeholders to move in the direction of achieving universal health coverage and delivering quality healthcare services to all at affordable cost.
Improvement in health-related Indicators
The Economic Survey highlights that the Indian healthcare network is among the largest in the world. The results of an effective health approach are visible in the improvement in some of the important health-related indicators, as seen below.
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NFHS-4

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NFHS-5 
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Households with any usual member covered under a health insurance/ financing scheme 
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28.7
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41.0
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Total fertility rate 
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2.2
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2.0
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Current Use of Family Planning Method- Any Method 
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53.5
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66.7
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Mothers who had at least 4 antenatal care visits 
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51.2
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58.1
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Institutional births 
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78.9
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88.6
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Neonatal mortality rate 
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29.5
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24.9
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Infant mortality rate 
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40.7
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35.2
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Under-five mortality rate 
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49.7
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41.9
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Children age 12-23 months fully vaccinated based on information from either vaccination card or mother’s recall 
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62.0
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76.4
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Children under age 6 months exclusively breastfed 
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54.9
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63.7
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Children under 5 years who are stunted  
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38.4
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35.5
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Children under 5 years who are wasted  
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21.0
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19.3
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Children under 5 years who are underweight  
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35.8
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32.1
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Children under 5 years who are overweight  
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2.1
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3.4
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Women who are overweight or obese  
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20.6
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24.0
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Men who are overweight or obese  
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18.9
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22.9
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Women age 15-24 years who use hygienic methods of protection during their menstrual period 
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57.6
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77.3
Source: National Family Health Surveys  2015-16 and 2019-21, MoHFW
With concerted efforts made under the Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child, Adolescent Health Plus Nutrition  strategy, India has made considerable progress in improving the health status of both mothers and children. As per the Sample Registration System  data, India has successfully achieved the major milestone to bring the Maternal Mortality Ratio  to below 100 per lakh live births by 2020  by bringing it down to 97 per lakh live births in 2018-20 from 130 per lakh live births in 2014-16. Eight states have already achieved the SDG target to reduce MMR to less than 70 per lakh live births by 2030. These include Kerala , Maharashtra , Telangana  Andhra Pradesh , Tamil Nadu , Jharkhand , Gujarat , and Karnataka .
Following a steady downward trend, Infant Mortality Rate , Under Five Mortality Rate  and Neonatal Mortality Rate  have further declined as a result of countrywide efforts towards increasing health service coverage through strengthening of service delivery; quality assurance; RMNCAH+N; human resources, community processes; information and knowledge; drugs and diagnostics, and supply chain management, etc.
Trends in Mortality indicators
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2014
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2016
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2018
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2020
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Maternal Mortality Ratio 
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167

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130

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113

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97

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Infant Mortality Rate 
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39
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34
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32
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28
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Neonatal Mortality Rate 
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26
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24
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23
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20
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Under 5 Mortality Rate 
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45
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39
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36
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32
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Early Neonatal Mortality Rate – 0- 7 days (per
1000 live births)
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20
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18
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18
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15
Source: Sample Registration System